Home Is Where The Heart Is
by Vanity-Sky
Summary: "There's this little blue planet, with vast oceans, the greatest pizza shack known to man, and most of all, my mom's hugs…" he said through tears, he knew that agreeing to become a paladin would be difficult but at the time, he didn't know how much. Klance bromance/Paladin Fam/hinted Shallura. Lance birthday one-shot.


AN: Couldn't pass up this chance to celebrate Lance's birthday. He's my second favorite character. I've watched Voltron waaaaayyyyy too many times that is considered 'normal.' Lol.

I personally don't ship Klance in a romantic way but bromance? You got it!

I'm not personally Cuban, my family is Central American so I apologize if I failed to use Cuban slang in this. I've spent time up in the Caribbean and am quite familiar with Cuban customs/foods but didn't feel super confident in writing that. Crash course Spanish in this fic. Not too much, don't worry. Ps. Mijo sounds nicer/more endearing than Hijo – which mean the same thing – Son.

Summary: "There's this little blue planet, with vast oceans, the greatest pizza shack known to man, and most of all, my mom's hugs…" he said through tears, he knew that agreeing to become a paladin would be difficult but at the time, he didn't know how much. Klance bromance/Paladin fam/hinted Shallura.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Mijo, tu comida se está enfriando! Lance, come down!" a woman's voice yelled from the banister of the stairs.

A groggy bundle of blankets sat up, stretching his arms and yawning, "Ya voy!" he shouted back.

Getting fully out of bed, the young man scratched his exposed stomach, slipping on his blue slippers and lazily made his way out of his room. Descending the stairs, he blinked a couple of times to get his eyes adjusted to the brightness. The white curtains of the living room were swaying in the wind, the salty mist entering the house from the opened windows.

He loved living near the beach but in the mornings, if it's not the squawking of pelicans waking him up then it was his mom. That, he didn't love so much.

"Mooooom, it's saturday" he started to complain when he jolted back at hearing his entire family clapping, cheering, and shouting '¡Feliz Cumpleaños!' with party streamers and popping confetti. His parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews - all of them were there.

On the table behind them all, was a triple chocolate birthday cake, a pile of presents, and all sorts of Cuban dishes like ropa vieja, cubanos, tostones, pastelitos de guayaba, churros, flan. You name it.

"Wha- guys! For me?" he was speechless.

His mother walked towards him with opened arms, "Of course, you didn't think we forgot your birthday, did you Lance?" his mother told him, kissing his cheeks and hugging him. "I love you, Mijo"

"I love you too, Mom"

Lance held onto her tightly, never wanting to let go of her love and warmth.

"LANCE! TRAINING!" a male voice shouted with a loud metal bang against the wall.

Rapidly blinking his eyes, he watched as his house, his family, and his mom slipped out of his reach. Everything spun around and faded. With a soft thud, he fully awoke, eyes widened as he realized that he was tightly clinging onto his pillow. His sleep mask somewhere on the floor along with his blanket.

"You've got ten minutes!" the voice informed, now sounding like Shiro.

"O-o-okay!" he stuttered, still feeling out of his element.

Getting up from the floor, Lance looked at his calendar. He marked in english, the numbers and months since everything was in Altean. Six months out in space and he still didn't fully grasp the foreign alien language.

Today is his birthday and in all his sixteen years of living - he never once skipped out on a birthday with his family.

He knew that some sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. They couldn't let the Galra Empire win. The Galra winning meant losing his home, his family - Earth. Everything precious to him and to those of neighboring planets would be gone in the blink of an eye.

He saw what the Galra did to the Arusians, the Balmerans, the Olkari and Taujeerians. That could be Humans too.

Drawing a frowning face on his calendar, he heavily sighed and got ready to head down to train with the others. He never told anyone about his birthday, highly doubted that Hunk and Pidge would remember from their time at the Garrison, so there really was no point in feeling down in the dumps.

Holding his paladin helmet in his left hand, with his right he stopped walking down the hall and patted his cheeks. He needed to mentally get himself hyped, needed to act like his normal, goofy, fun-loving self. He had already showed his friends this side of him, he didn't think they'd take a somber, quiet, more serious Lance, well, seriously.

"Cheer up, Sharpshooter" he chanted to himself as he opened the door to the training deck.

"What up, y'all!" he greeted, "Lance is in the hizz-house!"

That gained some groans, mainly coming from Keith.

 _This_ was fine.

 _He_ was fine.

After training, Lance went back to his room to change into his casual clothes, deciding that maybe trying to flirt with the Princess would cheer him up. His mind still swirling from his pleasant dream turning into a nightmare. He wasn't stupid, he knew that Princess Allura didn't reciprocate his feelings for her, but again, that was fine, he didn't fully feel anything romantic for her either.

Honestly, who even had time for romance in space when everyday was a battle just to stay alive.

Lance felt miserable today.

Entering the bridge, he immediately spotted Allura right next to the front control panel of the ship with a clipboard in hand. The mice were accompanying her with her work today.

"Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?" Lance whispered into her ear.

Allura rolled her eyes and with her index finger, gently pushed Lance a few inches away from her. "Not today, Lance. I'm running a system check on everything"

"Alright, guess I'll go try a new pick up line on Coran then" Lance muttered as Allura went back to concentrating on her work.

"Uh-huh, that's nice" Allura absently answered, not noticing when Lance walked out.

As he left her alone, Allura smirked.

Lance walked out of the bridge and decided to go to the kitchen when he noticed a sign on the kitchen entrance saying, 'Do not disturb, culinary genius at work'

"Guess I'll really go bug Coran" he said, figuring that he might find him in the medic wing.

When he couldn't find him there, he gave up and went to the other areas of the castle, trying to find someone to distract his mind with. He didn't care if it was helping with something or even just talking, he just didn't want to be alone today.

As he rounded the corner, he heard a feminine laugh mixed with another's.

A smile spread on his lips as he jogged to the source, finding Pidge on her laptop typing something and Shiro moving boxes and containers of broken Altean tech that Pidge had found in a secret compartment of the ship about a week ago.

"Hey guys! Need any help? Lance cheerfully offered.

Pidge quickly shut her laptop closed and with the palms of her hands, she shoved Lance out the door.

"No need, just working on research. Thanks!" she told him in a hurry.

Lance looked at Shiro for permission, his smiling slowly faltering.

Shiro gave him a sad smile and shrugged, "You heard the lady, no can do, Lance" he said as the door slowly closed.

He groaned and stormed off.

"Why's everyone so busy today?" Lance asked himself, he had already made partial peace with himself. It was his birthday but he didn't care. Deep, deep, deep down he did but he didn't want to bother the others with his problems.

He was spoiled, that's what it was.

"Why did you guys have to spoil me so much on my birthday, Ma?" his eyes stung. His birthdays were filled with laughter and love. Warmth and good vibes. But there was no such thing as warmth out in space, no such thing as laughter unless it was a victory cheer after forming voltron and defeating a Galran goon.

Lance wasn't in the mood to try out the Altean swimming pool again. He hadn't bothered ever since Keith almost ruined the moment for him the first time.

In his slump, he decided to go grab a hidden, actual chocolate chip cookie he had in his room and then go hang out with Blue.

"Hey, Blue" Lance softly called out to the blue lion once in the hangar. He patted the lion's metallic paw and then sat under her. Unwrapping his cookie, he took a bite out of it and then heavily sighed.

"Today's my birthday. I… I know you don't know what that is… but… but it's an earth custom where a human gets thrown a huge festive party for turning another year older" Lance began explaining, "I'm turning seventeen today, back on earth, today would be focused all on me" he bitterly laughed, "My family is crazy big, just picture ten times the amount to create voltron. That's my family"

A low purr came from the beastly metallic cat.

He knew that Blue was listening to every word.

"I haven't had much time to tell you about earth, huh?" Lance questioned, "There's this little blue planet, with vast oceans, the greatest pizza shack known to man, and most of all, my mom's hugs…" he said through tears, he knew that agreeing to become a paladin would be difficult but at the time, he didn't know how much.

He had finally broken down.

He had told himself the entire day that he didn't care.

So what if he didn't get a birthday cake or presents.

So what, there's plenty of other people who never do.

"Y-y-you would l-love e-earth, it's mostly made out of water after all" Lance stuttered, "of course, y-you probably kn-knew that already" he chuckled through his tears. The blue lion was the only lion that had been discovered on earth, ten thousand years ago, its resting place would've been submerged under the ocean.

Blue glowed blue for a moment, a warmth emanating off of it as Lance leaned back against the heat. He could feel his lion sending him soothing vibes, almost as if trying to give him a mental hug, trying to comfort him in anyway it could.

Lance was grateful.

With shaky hands, he covered his face and cried harder.

"I miss home"

In his head, he could hear and envision the laughter of his family, the typical argument of his little cousins fighting, his grandparents sitting with their canes in chairs in the yard, his parents grilling food, and him standing as a line of relatives came to greet him with gifts and an onslaught of kisses to his cheeks.

He wished so badly that he could return home but he knew he had to stay away.

For the sake of their protection.

For the sake of the universe.

The team needed him, depended on him, he couldn't just quit now.

Being a fighter pilot is all he's ever dreamed of, never in his life did he think he'd become a defender of the universe but he knew his mom was right.

 _"You were destined for greatness, Mijo"_

"Oh hey, there you are. C'mon, Shiro wants us in the rec room" he heard Keith say.

Blue gave an alerting sound, not quite a roar but not a purr either. It was almost territorial.

"Whoa, easy there Blue" Keith told the lion with his arms bent, hands held up against his chest.

Lance kept his head down, trying to will his tears away and using his jacket to wipe them away.

"Hey man, you okay?" Keith asked once he caught a good glimpse of Lance underneath the gigantic robot.

"I'm fine" Lance lied, his voice hoarse as he sniffled, looking up at him with red, puffy eyes.

"No, you're not" Keith firmly told him, in the back of his mind, he was taken by surprise. He's never seen Lance cry nor act sullen.

Sitting right across from him, Keith crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Lance. "Now tell me what's going on?"

Lance scoffed, "What does it matter? It's nothing" he said defensively with a sour mood.

"Look, I know that we don't always see eye to eye but…" Keith paused, "You're my friend too. You can cut that over competitive, high and mighty crap off for a sec. I'm clearly not the best at comforting others but let me _try_ here"

Lance shook his head, "I appreciate it but it's a really stupid reason" he clammed up again.

Keith rubbed his temples trying his best to not get frustrated, "we all have our bad days, no reason is ever a stupid reason"

Lance felt his wet eyelashes and streaks of tears on his face start to dry up. Rolling his eyes, he looked directly at Keith, "today's my birthday…" he started, "I'm just homesick, that's all"

Keith leaned forward, arm extending to grab hold of Lance's shoulder, "I get it. We all left… something behind on earth" he hesitated with his words. He personally didn't have much left back there but he knew the others like Lance and Pidge did.

"Wow, you really do suck at comforting" Lance joked, gaining a small punch on his shoulder.

"I told you I was trying! Being a paladin was never going to be easy" Keith sighed, "I almost wish there was a job description"

"Yeah, no kidding" Lance softly chuckled.

"C'mon, Shiro's waiting for us" Keith got up from the floor, holding out his hand for Lance.

Lance inhaled deeply then took Keith's hand, "Yeah" he told him.

He took a final glance at Blue, thanking the lion and telling her that he'd be back later.

As they walked down the corridor, Keith stopped Lance before they entered the room.

"What?" Lance asked.

"I told you we were friends, right?" Keith reminded him.

"Yeah?" he replied, slightly confused.

Keith started to walk backwards, slowly towards the direction of the rec room. "So naturally, I'm hurt" he said.

Lance raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

Keith grinned, "because I thought we were brothers. I mean, we've been stuck with each for half a year now, I've saved your ass a couple of times just as you've saved mine. I know we can never replace your real family but aren't we a family of our own? Paladins can't form voltron unless they've got a strong bond. Remember that, you're stuck with us whether you like it or not"

"We? Us?" Lance repeated.

In that moment, the room opened up. Confetti blasted into the air, with everyone shouting 'Happy Birthday, Lance!'

"Wha- for me? But how did you-" Lance was speechless.

"Know?" Keith filled in the blank.

Lance gulped and nodded.

Allura held a cake with seventeen lit candles, the cake actually looked edible and something he'd find in the bakery down the street of his town. That was Hunk's genius at work right there.

"How could we forget your birthday when you'd constantly remind us back at the academy?" Hunk said with a hearty laugh.

"Yeah, you shouted it to everyone whether you knew them or not" Pidge adjusted her glasses, smiling.

"Gee, thanks Katie" Lance deadpanned, slouching his shoulders.

"Sorry we seemed cold and like we were ignoring you today" Shiro apologized, scratching the back of his neck, "We were only trying to surprise you"

Coran helped by holding the cake as Allura walked towards Lance and embraced him, "happiest of earthling celebrations to you, dearest Lance" she told him and kissed his cheek.

Lance blushed and thanked her.

Keith leaned against Lance and flicked his temple, "And here I was, expecting you to be all hyperactive and shouting that it was your birthday to us all day today" he pretended to be let down as Lance massaged where Keith just flicked.

Shiro spoke up, "before we get to the party, the Princess has a gift for you"

Lance wasn't expecting any presents; the cake, party decorations, and all their company were more than enough in his book.

Allura handed him a book in english titled, 'Home Is Where The Heart Is', he looked up at her waiting for her to explain.

"When I was a small child growing up on Altea, my father would read me novels. There was one book in particular that I was quite fond of, it described this vast blue planet filled with oceans and people with different customs than my own. My father explained that they were humans, I had never seen one before but I found them curious. The book explained how they lived in peace, sharing different cultures, but what surprised me the most was when I learned that it wasn't all just water. This planet shared its terrain with land as well. This book was a story of an adventurer who loved planet earth, a… as you'd say, a fisherman. My father would make sound effects and act out the hero's grand adventures out on sea for me. And at the end of the day, he'd read how the hero always came home to land but land wasn't just a patch of dirt - it was where ever he'd feel at home. I recently found this book in my collection and had Pidge translate it for you, I hope that it'll bring you comfort on hard days" she told him, with an admiration twinkling in her blue eyes.

"Open the book, Lance" Coran told him eagerly.

Lance gulped and turned the cover, inside was a letter that was written in blue, black, yellow, green, and red ink and signed by all of the paladins with Allura's in pink ink.

Setting the book down, he opened the letter up.

"I know that we must defeat the Galra and Zarkon as soon as possible. I don't normally do this but… we can't have our morale doing down and…" Allura trailed off, she didn't know exactly how to word what she was saying.

Lance read the letter, all were birthday wishes from his friends and their favorite memories of hanging out with Lance and what they personally thought were his best qualities but the last line almost choked him up.

"We're going to earth?" Lance looked up from the letter, hopeful in ages since he'd been out in space.

Allura and Shiro looked at each other, smiling and nodding, "we talked about it and figured that we could at least spend a few hours on earth. If there's any planet in need of help on our path, we will aid them in whatever way we can though" Allura elaborated, "as paladins we have our duty to serve. Shiro suggested that this would be a good cause for us, seeing as we don't exactly know how close to earth, Zarkon has reached"

Lance ran up to Shiro and hugged him, "thank you!" he tearfully told his friend and leader.

The trip back home wasn't as bad as he had expected. Maybe it was because he was anticipating it and counting down the vargas and ticks. Quintant after quintant would pass and he couldn't contain his excitement, writing down everything he planned to get done just one single day back home.

His bedroom door suddenly opened up as Keith came and dropped himself on Lance's bed where he was laying down.

"Uhh… can I help you?" Lance asked, placing his notepad on his chest.

"You know it's weird, I know you're counting down until we arrive back on earth but I've…" Keith hummed, thinking about his words, "I've never thought about going back or at least not so soon. I know it's only for a day but it's just… weird"

Lance chuckled, "I know what ya mean, man. I know Shiro told us that we can't tell our families about voltron or about being paladins but imagine how cool it'd be if we could?"

Keith tilted his head to look at Lance, "maybe but your parents wouldn't see it that way"

Lance frowned, "yeah, you're right" he sighed, "so when you said we're like brothers… did you actually mean it?"

Keith quickly got off the bed, growing flustered at his cheesy moment days ago, "would you rather we go back to you acting stupid and annoying me?"

Lance left out a 'phsst' noise, "I'm not acting!"

Keith rolled his eyes, crossing his arms, he turned getting ready to leave the room, "I know you're not. You're a decent guy, Lance. Go check inside Blue, I left something in there for you" he simply told him and walked out.

Lance got up from his bed and sat there for a few silent minutes. He knew that unlike the others who were vocal in things, Keith had a harder time expressing himself.

Making his way to his lion, he entered the holding bay and greeted Blue.

"Hey girl, missed me?" he asked his docile lion, patting the leg, "I know, there hasn't been much action going around lately"

He entered the cockpit, searching for whatever it was he was searching for but found nothing.

"Maybe he meant somewhere else?" Lance looked in every nook and cranny, ready to call it day and give up when something compelled him to look underneath the seat.

"Aha!" he touched around the floor and stopped when he felt something bulky.

Pulling it out, he found a small blue digital camera and a envelope attached to it. Setting the camera on the chair, he opened the letter.

 _For the memories you'll create once you're with your family._

 _Ps. We're family too._

 _-Keith_

Lance coughed, trying to blink away a couple of tears that were threatening to fall.

"That stupid softie" he breathed.

It took three weeks but he was finally home.

The castle of lions perched itself on top of a mountain, a few miles away from any civilization.

"I've set the invisible barrier up but it won't last very long. You may go and visit your families and remember to come back before nightfall" Allura announced.

They all nodded and were dismissed.

Pidge was the first to abandon ship, having felt this urgency to go see her mom during this precious short amount of time they have on earth.

Hunk informed them that he'd go visit his own family and hit his favorite local stores.

Shiro didn't particularly have family he wanted to go check up on so he decided to stay behind with the Princess. Lance always suspected something was up between those two.

"Wait, someone's missing" he told himself as he prepared to exit the castle, a bag slung over one shoulder, "where's Keith?" he asked Coran who was standing and waving at the entrance, watching as Pidge and Hunk left.

"Oh, I think he might still be in his room" Coran shrugged, unsure.

Lance turned around and headed back to their sleeping quarters. He was about to knock when he stopped himself, "hold up, why should I knock when he never does!" he told himself and barged into the room.

Keith was laying on his bed, one knee bent, an arm under his head as he stared up at the wall and with his free hand he threw a small red hacky sack square up into the air catching it every time before it'd hit him on the face.

"You're not going out? Get some fresh air?"

"Nah, I don't really have a home to go back to" Keith told him honestly.

Lance shook his head, grumbled and then grabbed Keith's arm that was playing with the square. The small fabric square smacked him on the forehead and then rolled onto the floor.

"Hey, what gives!" Keith protested as Lance made him get out of bed, making sure to take his red jacket off the wall's hanger and made him follow him down the hall.

Standing outside the castle near trees, Lance shoved Keith's jacket to his chest telling him to put it on.

Not fully understanding, he did so and was caught by surprise when Lance pulled him closer and placed an arm over his shoulder. "Selfie!" Lance shouted, taking out the small blue digital camera out of his pocket and snapping a photo.

He then playfully leaned over closer and kissed Keith's cheek before pinching it.

Keith immediately pushed Lance away and started to furiously rub at his cheek. "What was that for!"

Lance smirked, his pointer finger lightly jabbing at Keith's chest, "I love you, man. I love you, Shiro, and Hunk like brothers and Pidge as a sister. Thanks for always being there for me. I know I give you a hard time but we're friends, right? Life would be boring if we didn't occasionally get on each other's nerves"

"Occasionally?" Keith gave him a look as if saying, 'really?'

"Anyways, I just wanted to say that before heading out" Lance tighten the strap of his bag and started walking, waving as his figure grew more distant.

Keith rolled his eyes and genuinely smiled as he watched his friend leave to reunite with his family.

Lance braced himself as he walked to the nearest bus stop and from there he went down to town. Luckily Allura had taken them as close as possible to Lance's hometown. The others would have to take additional trips to make it back home, he felt bad for them and reminded himself to later apologize to Pidge and Hunk.

The crisp ocean breeze of summer, that salty mist, the squawking noise of pelicans. He's missed it all.

Snapping a few photos, he held his camera and hugged it close to his chest. He'd treasure these memories while on missions in space.

Before he made his way all the way home, he took a detour to the beach. Taking off his socks and shoes, he rolled up his jeans as much as he could and allowed the grainy sand to squish between his toes. Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath and felt the wind sway his hair.

After twenty minutes of staring into the ocean, he snapped another photo and decided it was time. During this time, his family should be home. While studying at the Garrison, he'd come back home every summer and like clockwork - his entire family would be expecting him to come through that blue wooden door of the entrance. He sincerely hoped that nothing has changed in his absence.

To his parents, he was still studying at the academy but in reality he had been out in a far off galaxy trying to protect them from an impending doom.

He didn't have a key; his hand grew shaky as he steadied himself and turned the knob, slowly twisting it and hoping that it'd open right away.

As luck would have it - it did.

Letting out a breath that he didn't know he was holding in, he cleared his throat and called out, "Mom? Dad? Anyone?"

The same white curtains in the living room he remembered so well were swaying in the silence but he did hear noise inside the house. He could hear laughter from children coming from the yard.

His nervous legs slowly guided him towards the kitchen where he heard a pan sizzling and the soft singing of Celia Cruz playing on a radio. He softly chuckled, that was definitely either his mom or grandma listening to music.

Before he could reach the kitchen, a woman with long wavy brown hair came out drying up her hands on a dish towel.

"Mijo?" she called out, dropping the towel and running towards him.

"M-m-mom!" Lance choked on the word as he tightly embraced her, he continued to hold her, terrified that she'd fade away again.

"Honey, you're home a day early" she told him as she continued to hold him.

"I've missed you so much" Lance teared up, his body quivering.

His mom calmly rubbed circles in his back, "shh, shh, baby what's wrong? Don't cry"

"Did I hear Lance?" a male voiced asked behind him.

Lance's watery eyes widened as he slowly let go of his mom and turned around to see his dad coming through the entrance with a grocery bag.

"D-d-dad!" Lance ran towards him causing his dad to let go of the bag, hearing a small plastic plop on the floor.

"Whoa, son, easy now!" his dad laughed, he said as he briskly patted Lance's back.

"Is Lance home?" he soon heard other voices ask, coming from the banister of the stairs.

His entire family was here.

Lance laughed through his tears.

"Lance, you're a day early!" his siblings said as they greeted him, nudging his hair, and attacking his cheeks with kisses.

"Podemos cortar el pastel un día antes" his grandma said gaining approval from everyone.

"Pastel?" Lance hadn't expected a cake, completely forgetting their tradition. Since he'd come home every summer a few weeks after his birthday, his family always bought a birthday cake during his time at home so that they'd get to celebrate together.

Now that made two birthday parties for one birthday this year. Two celebrations with both his families.

He was overjoyed and made the most of his short stay with his family. He had lied to them, telling them how he had signed up for extra credit during the summer so he could only spend a day with them. It both crushed his and his family's hearts but a small white lie was the best he could to for their safety.

Back from his day trip, Allura and Coran were preparing the final navigation adjustments to the castle.

Pidge and Hunk had come back a few hours earlier than Lance and were now sharing their own stories with Keith and Shiro.

Inside his bedroom, Lance had just finished posting his new developed pictures onto the wall.

A photo of his massive loving Cuban family stuck on the wall right next to a photo of his small but precious paladin family.

He was about to exit his room when Keith stood in from of his door, looking as if he was getting ready to knock.

"Hey, Hunk brought back actual food. He's making a big Altean-Human fusion feast for dinner tonight, you coming?" he asked Lance.

Lance took one last glance at his pictures on his wall and nodded, "Yeah, definitely" he smiled.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Done!

I don't really have much else to say other than, I can't wait until season 3 next week.

I love complex characters like Lance; his insecurities, his dorkiness, his kind and caring heart, his naïve/dense moments, etc, etc. – these are things that make up Lance and getting to write something for his birthday was fun to do. My stories wouldn't be complete without a little bit of angst thrown in there! It's how I roll. Lmao.

Aaand now, I'll tumble away and return to my current on-going Shallura fic - Apartment 119.

Remember to R&R! Plz & Thankies! :]

I don't own Lance Mcclain or Keith Kogane and all other characters mentioned/used in this fic – Voltron Legendary Defender is owned by DreamWorks/Netflix.

I just own the idea/plot/story/whatever you want to call it~ lol :P


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